CLEVELAND, Ohio — The hens appeared to be enjoying unseasonably warm December weather. They were making full-throated clucks as they strutted around the Church of Saint Mary of the Assumption in Cleveland’s Collinwood neighborhood Friday morning.

What a difference a year makes. Last December, the same inner-city hens were being described as unwitting accessories to attempted murder. Local and national media had a field day reporting that Father John Kumse, a 66-year-old Cleveland priest, was shot at multiple times when young thugs attempted to rob him of eggs he had just collected from his hens.

Father Kumse still chafes at that “poultry” interpretation of the attack that occurred on parish grounds. He also chafes at the fact that he is often mentioned when crime in Collinwood is publicly discussed.

The attempted robbery was never about freshly laid eggs. Five teenagers saw an opportunity to rob a solitary figure at dusk and went for it. They didn’t want eggs. They wanted valuables.

“A lot of what happens in this neighborhood is misreported or sensationalized. That reality leads to additional problems. I’m convinced the perception of crime and danger is far greater here than the actual reality of crime and danger,” Father Kumse told me Friday.

Kumse is a courageous religious leader and part of the necessary community glue that helps keep beleaguered communities intact. Analysis of the sort offered by the priest generally goes missing in the narrative of Cleveland, which is routinely – and accurately – described as crime-ridden. It’s a lack of balance in the storytelling that troubles the veteran priest.

Kumse, who has lived and pastored at Saint Mary for 31 years, doesn’t easily tolerate misinformed or casual slights of his neighborhood. He understands that half-truths and rumors reflect poorly on both the neighborhood and his church as well as reinforce fears. Far more good than bad routinely happen in Collinwood and throughout the city, but you wouldn’t know it from the headlines, he argues.

Kumse recalls the recent robbery of a 75-year-old woman on her way to mass at Saint Mary. The story made local news. The woman, reportedly an employee of the church, lost her valuables when she had her purse snatched as she prepared to enter the church. The story was a half-truth.

“A man did approach and demand her purse. She wisely dropped it, and he left. Here’s the rest of the story,” said Kumse.

“The lady does not work for the church. She attends it. There was no money in the purse. She said the only thing of value in the purse was her Monthly (prayer) Reflection. And, she concluded that the purse snatcher likely needed the prayers far more than she does,” said Kumse with a defiant chuckle.

Some may consider the priest hopelessly naïve and fecklessly committed to a neighborhood that struggles mightily with the challenges of urban decay and abandonment. Others may scoff at his contention that Collinwood remains vibrant and open for thriving residential, commercial, and spiritual communities.

Kumse doesn’t mind if you call him a believer. Cleveland desperately needs more such believers and neighborhood champions.

“The church parish stands out like an oasis and is part of what remains good about so many Cleveland communities. People haven’t given up,” said Collinwood Councilman Mike Polensek, a longtime member of the parish.

“The community around Saint Mary remains a neighborhood of committed residents. But some people have grown fearful to come into that neighborhood or any parts of the city. That’s what we’re up against. A lot of the challenge we face is about perceptions that don’t always jibe with reality,” said Polensek.

Early in January, Father Kumse said he plans to attend the sentencing of three of the males who pled guilty in connection with the 2017 attack. It’s his way of helping to bring closure to the terrifying event that easily could have led to his death.

He’s also sending a statement. He’s not backing down and he understands what his church, his neighborhood, and his adopted hometown are up against.

“This isn’t an inner-city problem because crime knows no boundaries. This a human problem. We’re fighting against a poverty of values, respect, and spirituality. It’s a fight we cannot afford to run from or to lose,” said the inner-city priest.

When you think of Slovenes in the United States of America, you might associate them with symbols ranging from potica nut roll to Carniolian sausage, or even red carnations. But they are probably best known for their unique style of American dance music, based upon old Slovene melodies, which became a national sensation in the 1940s and is still popular in the U.S. today.

In November 2018 the Post of Slovenia (Pošta Slovenije) decided to honor Slovenes in the U.S. with a stamp that depicts the two musical instruments that best characterize their particular music, while symbolizing both nations: the traditional Slovene diatonic accordion (also known as a button box) and the banjo, representing American country music.

In a certain sense, both instruments have been “adopted” by Americans. The accordion originates from the first half of the 19th century in Europe where it soon became an iconic instrument of Slovene traditional music. Slovenes emigrating to the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century brought it with them and soon developed their own version of polka music, known as the Slovenian-style or Cleveland-style polka. But the popularity of this genre of dance music went beyond just Slovene communities. Other Americans took a liking to it, too.

The banjo followed a different route. The instrument originates from Africa, having been brought to the U.S. by slaves, first to southern states. The banjo’s popularity later spread across the U.S. and it became the most recognizable and distinctive instrument of country music. Slovene-American bands combined the button box and the banjo in the 1920s to create a new sound that is still enjoyed a century later.

The First Day Cover from the Post of Slovenia includes a postmark featuring the Carniolian sausages (Kranjska klobasa). It was issued on November 9, 2018 also at the Embassy of Slovenia in Washington DC by Ambassador Stanislav Vidovič.

QUIZ QUESTION: Which Grammy-winning Slovene-American entertainer often combined the button box and the banjo in their polka recordings?

Zarja Slovenian Singing Society EUCLID, Ohio — As I sit here composing this article, it’s the middle of August and the temperatures are certainly reflecting that. It seems that Oct. 28 is a long way off, but it’s time to start working on the Zarja 2018 fall concert.

As usual, our fall program will be in concert format and will include a wide variety of styles of Slovenian and English music, with an emphasis more or less on memories.

The chorus will reprise a couple of songs from our Spring Frolic that our audience particularly enjoyed, including a really great arrangement (not mine) of “Down by the Riverside” and “Pesem o svobodi” by Radovan Gobec. Specialty numbers and a couple of instrumental pieces will compliment the chorus selections.

Of course, roast beef and klobase sandwiches, desserts and beverages will be available for purchase, and music for dancing and listening will be rendered by Patty C & The Guys.

Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Advance tickets may be purchased by contacting Barbara at (440)257-2540, Karen at (216) 481-1379, the Polka Hall of Fame at (216) 261-3263, or your favorite Zarja member.

Join us for an enjoyable afternoon of music on Sunday, Oct. 28, at the Slovenian Society Home, 20713 Recher Ave. in Euclid. The doors will open at 2:30 p.m. and the program will start at 3; Patty C & The Guys will be performing right after the program.

Thanks to everyone for your support in helping us to keep Slovenian music and culture alive in the Cleveland area. We’ll see you at the concert!

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Boris Music has owned Hansa Import Haus and Hansa Travel Service in Ohio City for about 40 years. In 2016, he added Hansa Brewery in the same complex.

Cleveland creds: Moved here from Slovenia in 1976

Currently lives: Kirtland

Age: 61

Family: Wife, three grown children

Favorite locally owned restaurants besides his own: Astoria

Does Ohio City have too many breweries?

Boris: Microbreweries are growing like mushrooms. You have 40-some breweries in Greater Cleveland now, so the competition is obviously there.

But we are not the typical microbrewery. We follow old-style German purity laws for most of our beers. They have four ingredients only: water, grain, hops and yeast. No spices.

We have some other beers that are not brewed according to that tradition. We might add raspberry or blueberry or plum. Our Christmas beer two years ago had no spices, just a little honey and maple syrup.

We are a toothpick in the forest. Our typical production per batch is about 18 kegs or nine barrels. We probably do 40 batches a year. We don’t bottle it. You can drink it here or take home a growler or a few cans. It’s available on tap in 18 bars: Forest City Shuffleboard, ABC Tavern… But we are not really looking at putting it on store shelves.

We’re doing quite well. We’re doing tremendously at competitions. We’ve won several gold medals. We won double gold in New York.

I’m not spending any money for advertising. I want to build demand rather than chase people. That’s how Great Lakes did it. We’ll see what the consumer decides.

Your menu?

Boris: We are doing good central European food: Austrian, Hungarian, Slovenian, a little Italian. Americans have really bad geography; they label us Eastern Europe. Come on.

We do paprikash, goulash, stuffed peppers, all three schnitzels… We do authentic food like it’s supposed to be. We’re not trying to be a modern, highfalutin place. You never serve gravy with wiener schnitzel in Europe. You get a lemon and you soften the crunchiness. Parisian style is egg and flour.

We bring bronzini from Greece and lamb from New Zealand. We do octopus out of Spain. I do nothing from China. My octopus is soft. It’s not rubber. If you want rubber, go to Goodyear in Akron.

I got a carpaccio for yuppies, but we use mignon. We’ve giving you top shelf.

Do young customers like Old World food?

Boris: It’s all up to the server to explain t item, and once they try it they love it.

Where are you from?

I was born in Novo Mesto, in the countryside of Slovenia. I later lived in Ljubljana [the capital].

What brought you to Cleveland?

Boris: I came here as a trainee in ’76. I was sent by my company, a large tool operator. I fell in love with the place.

I worked here for Europa Travel almost two years. In ’78, I went on my own. I took over Hansa Import House. The name comes from medieval times in northern Germany. [It means a merchants' league.]

We were across the street from where we are now. The neighborhood was so bad, we were broken into at least once a week. Cleveland was so depressed and dirty. There was no life in the evening.

I took what’s now the cigar store and Touch Supper Club. Then we got this property. We had to evict a bar. That same day, my building was on fire. Everything went down. I wasn’t properly insured.

Most of my customers said, “Why don’t you move out? Come to Parma, Brook Park… But all the freeways are nearby. Typically in America, things get destroyed in 20, 25 years, and it takes about 50 years to rebuild. I was only about 20. I figured in 30 years, maybe the area would improve. We tore both buildings down. I started to rebuild.

How was the travel business?

Boris: at that time, it was really exploding. Americans traveled to Europe in masses. There were no computers. We were doing everything on cards.

We were doing corporate accounts primarily. I had an office in Houston and in Asheville, N.C. I was doing charter flights for Cleveland to London, Frankfort, Ljubljana, Zagreb… We moved 10,000, 12,000 people a year across the water. I acquired Europa in ’91. I was called king of the charter flights.

Nowadays, can’t people book their own trips online?

Boris: Anybody who thinks they can do it themselves is stupid. I just had six people in Toronto whose plane was cancelled. I took care of them. You don’t need anybody when there’s no problem. You don’t need to insure your house until it burns down.

How’s the import business?

Boris: It’s doing very well. It’s been here 65 years. It’s primarily Germanic: Germany, Austria, Switzerland. Obviously, we have a little from Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary. We sell candy, canned goods, fish, pickled vegetables, noodles, dumplings, bread from a specialty baker in Canada. We have wines and over 100 imported beers. We have hams, salamis, sausages…

How’s the neighborhood coming along?

Boris: We have to give big credit to St. Ignatius. They’ve done a tremendous job.

Boris: I love it. I’ve got about three acres. I live in a forest. I have a running creek every day.

I have a house next to my warehouse. I sleep a few times a year here. But it’s too noisy for me. My dog doesn’t like it: a German shepherd, Socrates.

Are our ethnic communities still strong?

Boris: Yes. Look at the Germans with the farm on York. Look at the Donauschwabens. In Eastlake, you have the Croatian lodge.

You have the Slovenian National Home on St. Clair and 62nd. You have my church, St. Vitus, there. It still plays a big role in the area. They have put in senior living: beautiful apartments. St. Mary in Collinwood is more active with younger Slovenian immigrants.

How’s the weather here compare with Slovenia’s?

Boris: Fairly similar. There the flowers bloom and the vegetables grow earlier. Here spring comes all of the sudden, and everything’s rush rush rush.

Hansa Brewery, Hansa Travel Service and Hansa Import Haus are at 2717 Lorain Ave., Cleveland, 216-631-6585. For more on the brewery, see hansabrewery.com.

Slovenian Sweetness

WHITE IRON LAKE –A faded and tattered recipe, produced on a manual typewriter, complete with stains and a few handwritten notes, has a simple heading “Walnut Potica.” That recipe is the basis of Mary Louise Icenhour’s heritage.

Like all recipes, this one is the guideline or first step in mastering a baking tradition handed down through many generations in Ely.

Icenhour’s mother, Rose Mavetz, used her original recipe to teach Community Education classes in the 1970s and 1980s at Vermilion Community College. Mary has decades of experience in making this Slovenian sweet bread and she passes on that knowledge to Ely Folk School students willing to keep the tradition intact.

These days, Icenhour is a one-person potica factory. She’s churning out dozens of loaves of walnut potica at her White Iron Lake cabin this week as she gets enough stock to conduct a fundraiser for EFS.

She is donating the cost of materials and the time it takes to make as many as 50 poticas and will sell them for $40 each at a special bake sale event on Tuesday, July 3. All proceeds go to the Folk School. To reserve a traditional Slovenian-made walnut potica, call her at 218-365-6662.

Icenhour is making five batches or loaves each day over the course of about 10 days. “If this goes well, we’ll look at doing this again at Christmas and Easter,” she said.

“I like to start as early as I can in the morning. That’s when I’m well rested,” said the retired Duke University nursing instructor.

Icenhour spends her summers at the same cabin her father built back in 1954. She recently bought a house in Ely and comes to town for the winter. “I guess you could call me a snow bird,” she joked.

While she waited for the dough to rise, she showed a visitor a Slovenian stamp that featured potica, walnuts and honey. “I get a Christmas card from my father’s cousin every year,” she said. “Potica is so significant to the Slovenian culture that they feature the baked good on their stamps. Our first lady is from the old country and Melania told the Pope last year during a visit that she feeds her husband potica. Slovenians have a real cultural connection to this sweet bread.”

Each batch of Icenhour’s potica contains two pounds of walnuts, one and a half cups of honey, a cup of sugar, lots of heavy whipping cream and three eggs. “The filling is very rich,” she said. “I always use Minnesota honey. And I use at least a pound of butter. I don’t skimp. And get the good high-protein flour.”

The combination of these is really an art. As she described the process, Icenhour added her own tried and true tips which ultimately prove invaluable for the potica novice. “Use a heavy pan, like an old pressure cooker,” and “just bring it to a slight boil. Stir in the honey and butter mixture carefully to get a nice consistency in the filling. This filling is what makes potica, potica,” Mary said.

She noted the golden color of the filling. “If you had cheaper walnuts, it would be darker,” she said. “Drop in the eggs one at a time and stir in each one. Don’t have it too hot or the else the eggs will start to cook too fast. Add a generous cup of whipping cream. Potica can’t be too rich.”

Icenhour has a half-dozen aluminum loaf pans, nearly impossible to obtain anymore, that she uses solely for her potica.

“Back in the 1970s, there was a hardware store next to Kerntz’s (appliance store) run by a family of Slovenes, the Banovetzes and they got a bunch of the pans in,” she said. “This news went through the Slovenian ladies in town like lightning, and my mother got six. I still use her original pans. They never see a dishwasher. I treat them with care. Martha Banovetz, Frank’s wife, never got any of those pans. I heard that from her daughter, Marcia, who was in my high school class here in Ely.”

Icenhour said that she scours e-bay and buys them whenever they are available. “They are an odd size, but just perfect for a loaf of potica,” she said.

“Most Slovenian women use a type of double-woven tablecloth that is hard to come by,” she said. “I have a 100-percent cotton sheet that is only used for my walnut potica. I wash it separately and line dry it. This is important for cleanliness.”

One of the mysteries of potica: “We were fussy about how much flour we added to the dough, but now you want to liberally put flour on the cloth and you want the flour to sink into the cloth,” she said.

Mary uses her grandmother’s square table, resurrected out of the bunkhouse at the cabin. “I like it because it is sturdy and flat and has no leaves and is 60 inches long which is perfect for five loaves of potica,” she said.

This week Icenhour is getting quite a workout with her rolling pin. “You just have to keep rolling. Lean into it. Hear that air come out? It’s the carbon dioxide from the yeast. My mother’s recipe calls for a rolling pin but there is a point where I give it a little help with my hands,” she said.

She prodded the dough to the edges of the table, pulling it, lifting it, and adding flour to keep it from sticking. “Don’t worry about the holes in the dough,” she said. “One thing about ethnic food is there is a lot of range for error. Just make sure it doesn’t stick to the cloth.”

The paste-like walnut filling was added and spread from edge to edge. “It is surprising how resilient the dough is to the scraping and spreading of the filling,” she said.

Icenhour started on one edge and began to roll the dough. “Now this is were the potica cloth really she shines,” she said as she picked up the side of the cloth and allowed gravity to roll the dough onto itself in quick fashion. And just like that, the potica was rolled and ready to rest for 15 minutes before going into the well-buttered baking pans and into the oven for an hour.

A handwritten hint at the bottom of the recipe says, “Before freezing, when potica is well wrapped, let it stand at room temperature for two days to allow flavor to go through.”

June 25, 2018
On behalf of the Government of the United States of America, I offer congratulations to the people of Slovenia as you celebrate your 27th Statehood Day.

Our strategic partnership with Slovenia, as a NATO Ally and member of the European Union, is founded on shared values and history, and a common pursuit of collective security. In Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kosovo, our security forces stand shoulder to shoulder to advance global counterterrorism initiatives and affirm our common commitment through NATO’s presence in front-line states.

The United States values Slovenia’s contributions and friendship, and looks forward to deepening our bilateral relationship over the coming year as we work to expand bilateral trade and investment and ensure that Europe remains strong and free.

I extend my best wishes to the Slovenian people and congratulate you on your Statehood Day.

Lynda Blanchard of Alabama, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Slovenia.

Ms. Blanchard co-founded 100X Development Foundation in 2004, an organization dedicated to fostering creative solutions to eradicate poverty and improve the lives of children around the world. Concurrently, she co-founded and is currently senior advisor at B & M Management Company, a real estate investment management company. Ms. Blanchard has worked in Africa, Asia, and South America, engaging with local partners to further 100X Development Foundation’s mission. As an advocate for people with special needs for more than 20 years, Ms. Blanchard has voluntarily served on boards of non-profit organizations and supported numerous education programs in Alabama, as well as helped families who are interested in adoption. She is the mother of seven children, four of which were adopted internationally. Ms. Blanchard earned a B.S. in mathematics and a minor in computer science from Auburn University.

• Featured in Pittsburgh Magazine as one of the “Top 10 Things to Do in July” •

Borough of SNPJ, Pa. — The weekend of July 13-15, 2018, the 37th annual Slovenefest will be held at the SNPJ Recreation Center in Lawrence County, Pa. Slovenefest, a weekend-long celebration of the music, tastes and traditions of Slovenia that is attended by as many as 5,000 people each year, is the largest Slovenian cultural festival of its kind. Featuring more than 20 Slovenian polka bands and button box accordion clubs at five indoor and outdoor venues, the non-stop entertainment starts at noon each day.

Slovenefest attendees will be able to sample the great foods and beverages of Slovenia while enjoying the music. Slovenian sausage, and barbecued lamb, chicken and pork will be available for purchase, along with other favorite festival foods and a variety of beverages, including Slovenian beer and wines.

Festival guests will be able to explore the culture of Slovenia through an extensive display of folk attire, crafts and presentations in the SNPJ Slovenian Heritage Center museum. Families and children alike will appreciate swimming in the Olympic-size pool, fishing in the SNPJ Recreation Center lake, playing miniature golf, riding the trackless train, playing on the playground equipment, and participating in organized activities. These family activities, as well as admission to the swimming pool and the Slovenian Heritage Center, are included with Slovenefest admission.

Returning for 2018, the Slovenefest “Make It, Bake It, Grow It” Crafters Bazaar will present several of the area’s finest crafters, all of whom will have items available for purchase. Hours of operation for the crafters bazaar are noon to 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 14, and Sunday, July 15. Admission to the crafters bazaar is also included with festival admission.

The SNPJ Recreation Center (address: 270 Martin Rd., Enon Valley, PA 16120) is located on PA Route 108, one mile east of the Ohio-Pennsylvania border and seven miles west of the Mt. Jackson Exit (#17) of Interstate 376. Admission is $10 on Friday and Sunday, $15 on Saturday. A three-day pass is offered for $30. Children and teens age 16 and under are admitted free of charge. Ample free parking is available, and shuttle service is also offered free of charge. Contact the SNPJ Recreation Center at 724-336-5180 (toll-free at 1-877-767-5732) or visit www.snpjrec.com for directions. Visit the Slovenefest website, www.slovenefest.com, for additional information, including a complete weekend entertainment schedule.

For more information about Slovenefest, please call 1-877-767-5732 or e-mail snpj@snpjrec.com.

This is a picture you don’t see every day. Sisters Linda Holle and Ruth Feild nee Poropat pose in front of Euclid’s M103 Heavy Tank. The proud Slovenian sisters accompanied the Cleveland Style Polka Hall of Fame float at the 2018 City of Euclid Memorial Day Parade. Many in the Slovenian community may remember the sister’s parents Stan and Marge Poropat. Stan and Marge were the proprietors of Petrick’s Tavern in Euclid, Ohio until 1984.